


Bonding

by soltryce (soaringswallow)



Category: Life of the Party (Web Series)
Genre: 'this is our get along cursed object', could probably be read as shippy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-11 03:49:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20147146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soaringswallow/pseuds/soltryce
Summary: It could be worse.He can survive this predicament without strangling Cassian.He has the willpower to do it.





	Bonding

**Author's Note:**

> i live to torture Renard (and Cassian, apparently)
> 
> everyone else is having a great time

"I hate this." Cassian looks up from the tome, waiting for a reaction from the others. "I really cannot stress enough how much I hate this."

Elyse, sitting crosslegged on the floor, surrounded by even more books, sighs deeply. "We heard you the first twenty-seven times." 

"And so has everyone in a ten mile radius," Renard murmurs under his breath, ignoring the glare from the wizard just as he's been ignoring everything else coming from his direction all day.

Astra blows a raspberry and flicks over another page. "It could be worse." Even he sounds a little worn out from hours of research.

"How?" Cassian says it at the same time as him and Renard skillfully pretends he didn't hear him.

Elyse still smirks at the both of them and Renard resolves to make her pay for her own dinner for the next week at least.

"Well, you could be bound together even closer," Sariel points out. She is also valiantly working her way through a stack of books - unlike Boblem who has fallen asleep with his head on the pages of a volume titled "The Arcane: Artfully Applied".

Renard experimentally tugs at the thin silver band around his wrist. There's about a foot between his end and the one tying Cassian to him. It's been more than awkward, but Sariel is right. If they had to have skin contact he would probably be seriously considering cutting off his hand at this point.

It's been six hours. Six hours since the magic shop, since the old gnome lady who decided to mess with them by offering Cassian the length of silvery string as some kind of superior, never tearing rope. Instead it had reacted that evening, when Renard and Cassian had gotten into another argument, tying them together. 

Renard has come across the odd cursed item or two, but this has to be the most annoying one so far.  
Especially because Cassian can't stop complaining. It's not like this is any fun for Renard either. Or for any of the others who got roped into researching along with them.

Of course they'd also gone to the shop where this whole thing started, but the old lady had mysteriously disappeared. Even searching the rooms above the store hadn't yielded any results.

Renard buries his head in his hands, eliciting an annoyed huff from Cassian when this forces him to adjust his position.

"Hey, at least neither of you has had to pee yet," Astra says cheerfully, but follows it up with a yawn. It's way past midnight. All of them are tired.

"How do you know they haven't just been holding it in for hours?" Elyse asks.

Renard groans. "Can we please not talk about this?"

He can feel Cassian's smirk radiating from him. "For once I agree with Renard."

_____

It's another two hours of research before they all finally agree to get some sleep. Boblem is woken up and lead to his and Sariel's room, bleary and barely present. Astra and Elyse help push the two single beds together and then bid them goodnight. 

Renard stares at the beds for a moment. It'll be difficult to maneuver themselves into a comfortable position. It'll be difficult to… he reaches up for his mask and frowns.

"You're really not going to take this off?" Cassian asks as he sits on his mattress and begins working on his boots. "Do you always sleep in that thing?"

Renard doesn't grace that with an answer. It's no use and it'll only frustrate both of them more. The best course of action is just to pretend this isn't happening.  
Cassian tugs their arms down in a half hearted attempt to take off his coat, but then just huffs and leaves it.

"Let's just… make the best of it," Renard suggests evenly and bows down to take off his boots as well.

"Youre propositioning me like this? It's always the ones you least suspect..." Cassian murmurs, and Renard pulls their hands down suddenly, nearly making the elf lose his balance.

Cassian straightens up and sends him a death glare. Renard tries not to feel too satisfied.

"I hate you," Cassian states, and Renard maneuvers around him so he can lie down, arm outstretched towards the wizard.

This is going to be a long night.

_____

"That's so cute!"   
The hushed voice of Elyse wakes him. He groans, still too tired for this, and snuggles closer to the warm body beside him.

Wait.

He blinks open his eyes and immediately jerks away from Cassian. Apparently they did find a comfortable position last night, which was half on top of each other.

"Good morning to you, too." Cassian is awake. Fuck.  
Renard swings his legs down over the edge of the bed, back turned to the object of his unconscious affection, and looks up at Elyse.

"If you say a word…" But Elyse is already spinning on her heel, and she hurries back out of the room, presumably to tell Astra about this.

Renard sighs. "I hate this."

"You're very warm," Cassian tells him, "I didn't take you for a cuddler."

Slow breaths. Soon they'll find a way out of this and then he won't ever have to talk to Cassian again.

_____

It gets a little better once they've gotten some breakfast in them and somehow managed to take a bathroom break without dying of embarrassment.  
They leave half of the party behind and head for the magic shop once more with Elyse, in hopes of finding the owner this time.

They don't make it that far.

"You said you borrowed those books!" Renard deflects a blade and ducks aside so Cassian can fire a bolt of arcane energy at their attacker. 

Fighting like this they're clearly at a disadvantage. It's hard to move with the flow of the battle, to duck and weave and dance when you have a wizard along for the ride.   
Cassian is dextrous enough, but his fighting style is not quite as... tumultuous as Ren's.

"I didn't say I asked beforehand!" Elyse grabs another of the guards and sends bolts of electricity running through their body, causing them to collapse.

Renard hears Cassian huff beside him and can't help but feel the same. There's three more guards left and it's awful to be reduced to… basically stab at them and hope for the best.

"Careful," Cassian snarls at him as he steps back to dodge and nearly makes them both fall.

Renard looks up and the moment freezes as he sees the massive fireball hurtling towards them. He didn't expect a magic user among the guards. Certainly not a powerful one.

Without thinking, he lets his instinct take over and wraps an arm around Cassian, using his weight to force them both to the ground.

Hitting the hard cobblestones makes his head ring for a second, and he nearly misses the magic shield Cassian has pulled up over himself, effectively blocking most of the flames. It still stings where it's not enough, but Renard knows they could have been way worse off.

"Good reaction time," he says quietly, breath coming a little too quickly.

Cassian looks down at him, shield dissipating, and smiles. Not a condescending fake one or a smirk but a real smile. "Thank you. If you had not pulled me out of the way…" His hand reaches past Renard and touches the side of his head where it's throbbing painfully. His fingers come back stained with blood.

His... his hand... 

"We broke it," Renard murmurs, staring at where Cassian's wrist looks slightly raw from tugging at the silver bond.  
"We broke the curse."

"If you two are done flirting…" Elyse sounds too out of breath, and Renard looks up to see her duck and roll out of the way of a sword.

Cassian gets up first, and he holds up the non-bloodied hand for Renard to take. "Would you do me the honors?"

Renard rolls his eyes.   
And takes it.


End file.
